It’s 2 p.m. on a Tuesday, and your case of baked goods is still full. Saturday sold out by 11 a.m. And the customer who ordered a cake last spring hasn’t been back since.
Your next regulars are looking online — according to the SevenRooms 2025 US Data Report, 94% of diners use resources like Google and social media to discover new restaurants. A strong online presence is crucial.
Getting found online is only the start. Bakery sales rise and fall with the day of the week and with occasions like birthdays and holidays — that’s why your case is full on Tuesday, sold out Saturday morning, and the cake customer hasn’t been back. Posting more often won’t fix that on its own. Planning your marketing around those occasions can, by giving once-a-year buyers a reason to return between them. This guide covers four steps to help new customers find you, order, return, and spread the word.
Bakery marketing at a glance
Bakery demand swings with the daily bake and with occasions like birthdays and holidays, so plan your marketing around the occasions you celebrate through your offerings.
Step 1: Help new customers find you through your Google Business Profile, social media, DoorDash Marketplace listing, and neighborhood events.
Step 2: Offer online ordering and pre-orders, and above all, collect a name and email with every order.
Step 3: Bring customers back between occasions with bake-calendar promotions, emails, and rewards for regulars.
Step 4: Ask regulars for reviews and word-of-mouth referrals to reach your next new customer.
What makes bakery marketing different?
Bakery marketing is everything a bakery does to help people find it, order from it, and come back. It draws on many of the same restaurant marketing ideas that cafés and restaurants use, with a few key differences.
Your products are visual, made fresh each morning, and often sell out. Much of your demand also ties to occasions like birthdays, graduations, and holidays. Those buyers often disappear until another celebration comes.
Demand also swings by day and season, so it’s hard to know how much to make. Too much product leads to waste, and too little sends customers home empty-handed. Remember the full case on Tuesday and the Saturday sell-out? Smart bakery marketing strategies make demand more predictable, so you can plan production with more confidence.
The four steps in this guide build on one foundation: a brand people remember. Each step leads to the next, and the last one loops back to the first.
Digital marketing for bakeries: where new customers find you now
Digital marketing for a bakery covers your Google listing, website, social media marketing, email newsletters, and delivery apps. Like most restaurant digital marketing plans, it reaches customers before they visit, even if you sell mostly at the counter. Plus, younger buyers lean on social media most, with 69% of Gen Z using it to discover restaurants (SevenRooms 2025 US Data Report), so investing in digital marketing is a great way to connect with younger generations
Create a brand people remember
Customers should be able to sum up your bakery in one line, like “the place with the cardamom buns.” That clear identity helps them recognize your posts as they scroll. Without it, your photos look like every other bakery’s, and the hours you spend posting rarely lead to orders.
A memorable bakery brand identity starts with:
A clear name and look: Choose a name, logo, and colors people can recognize from across the street.
One signature item: Pick a single product customers connect with you and feature it everywhere.
Packaging that travels: Branded boxes, bags, and stickers show your name to everyone a customer passes on the way home.
Consistent photos and tone: Use the same photo style and voice on your sign, menu, website, social media, and delivery listing.
Step 1: Reach people who’ve never tried your croissants
Some of your future regulars live nearby and haven’t found you yet. These channels can help, and they’re listed in no particular order.
Fill out your Google Business Profile
Your Google Business Profile (GBP) is your bakery’s listing in Google Maps and local search. Choose categories that match what you sell, such as “Bakery” or “Cake shop,” so you appear in the right searches.
List hours that match your bake schedule, including early openings and the days you close. Add photos of a full case, and share a weekly post about your daily specials.
Post what’s fresh on social media
Share what came out of the oven today, and post again when an item sells out. A sell-out post gives followers a reason to come in earlier next time. Add shots that make people stop scrolling, like a cinnamon roll pulled apart or the first tray out at 6 a.m.
Every post needs a clear way to order, so keep an ordering link in your bio. You don’t need paid influencers either. Only one in 10 consumers use influencers for recommendations, so focus on your own content and your local fans. See how DK’s Donuts & Bakery handles social media for ideas.
Make your DoorDash Marketplace listing work harder
Your DoorDash Marketplace listing on the DoorDash app can bring in weekday and afternoon orders when foot traffic slows. Many of those customers are looking for somewhere new to try. In 2025, over 55% of orders at new restaurants on DoorDash were from consumers who found a new restaurant while browsing (based on internal DoorDash data from Jan 2025 - December 2025).
Start by adding a photo to as many items as you can. Reaching at least 50% menu photo coverage can increase sales by 13% on average (based on internal DoorDash analysis of SMB merchants increasing menu photo coverage from 0% to at least 50% (2023–2025)).
From there, write short item descriptions, offer bundles like a dozen-donut box, and add one item customers can only order on DoorDash. The owners of Moonrise Bagels worried delivery would hurt the in-store experience it was known for, so they created a flavor sold only on DoorDash. That flavor brought in new orders without changing what made the shop special.
Show up in your neighborhood
Meeting neighbors in person is one of the most direct ways to increase bakery sales and expand your business. Sell at farmers' markets, drop off free samples at nearby coffee shops, host a workshop, or join local community events. Point every offline touchpoint to one place to order or sign up, like a QR code on your business cards and boxes.
To see where diners discover new restaurants in 2026, download our free report on restaurant industry trends.
Step 2: Turn interest into orders (and names)
If an order takes too many steps, customers often give up and go elsewhere. Every order is also a chance to learn who your customer is.
Make it easy to order and pre-order online
It’s easy to miss custom and holiday orders sent by phone, direct message, or email. Move them online, with your menu, hours, and today’s items in one place. Offer pickup and delivery, and set clear cutoff times for cakes and holiday boxes.
Keep your website, menu page, and online ordering system separate. A menu page shows what you sell, while an ordering system lets customers buy it. Hruska’s Kolaches added pickup and delivery ordering to its existing website, giving customers another way to order same-day.
If your bakery already has a website and you want to see whether it’s built to bring in more orders, check out our Restaurant Website Checklist.
Get a name with every order
You might know your regulars by face, but you can’t reach them until they walk back in. A name and email let you send pre-order reminders, new flavors, or a birthday note.
Collect contact info at online checkout, at the register, and through a QR code on each box. When customers order through your website or app, they enter their name and email to check out, so your list grows with every order.
83% of diners are willing to sign up for restaurant marketing programs, but they want more than a discount. Try perks like early access to holiday pre-orders.
Cross-Channel Loyalty, part of DoorDash Direct, is the only loyalty program that works online, in-app, in-store, and on DoorDash. It can help you recognize Marketplace customers and bring them back as regulars you know by name. Customers who share their birthday can also receive a birthday reward.
Step 3: Bring customers back between birthdays
Plan your marketing campaigns around the bakery calendar. Map out holidays, seasonal flavors, and limited-time items for the year. Announce pre-order windows two to three weeks ahead, so customers can plan and you can prep. When an item sells out, tell customers when it returns, like “back Friday at 7.” You can do this on your Instagram stories or a simple sign on the door.
Here are some ideas to start your calendar:
Season/Month | Occasion | Bakery idea |
|---|---|---|
January | New Year | Weekly bread subscription to start the year |
February | Valentine’s Day | Cookie-decorating class for couples |
March or April | Easter | Limited-run hot cross buns |
May | Mother’s Day | Brunch box with pastries, quiche, and coffee |
June–August | Peak fruit season | Weekly fruit tart drop, announced each Monday |
August–September | Back to school | Gift boxes for teachers’ first week |
October | Halloween | Decorated cookie box pre-orders for class and office parties, opened three weeks ahead |
November | Thanksgiving | Pie and dinner roll trays for family gatherings |
Send emails that bring customers back. Start with a welcome email for new subscribers and a yearly birthday reminder. Add a win-back email for customers who haven’t ordered in a while, plus an announcement whenever pre-orders open. 47% of consumers say birthday and anniversary promos are the top perk they want from restaurants.
Reward regulars. A loyalty program gives regulars a simple reward for coming back, like a free pastry after a set number of visits.
You can run these emails through a standalone email tool. Direct includes Automated Email Marketing that works with the Cross-Channel Loyaltyand birthday rewards from Step 2. That way, a birthday email and a birthday reward can go out together. Automated email boosts order frequency by an average of 15% among new and returning customers (based on internal DoorDash data from March 2024 through March 2025).
Step 4: Turn regulars into your best marketing
Your regulars have the power to reach your target audience through reviews, word of mouth, and the photos they post. Put a QR code on every box that links to your review page. Reply to every review, positive or critical, so readers can see you’re listening.
New customers check those reviews before they visit: 97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses, according to BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2026. For independent restaurants, Harvard Business School found that a one-star increase in Yelp rating led to a 5–9% increase in revenue.
You can ask for customer testimonials in person or use a review tool. Guest Experience Management, part of Direct, automatically asks customers for reviews. It keeps all feedback in one place and suggests responses with AI.
Don’t make these expensive bakery marketing mistakes
Posting without a way to order. A photo of warm morning buns can rack up likes and still sell nothing. Keep your ordering link in your bio, and mention it in your captions too.
Letting a sell-out end the conversation. When the case is empty by noon, late customers walk out with nothing. Keep a pre-order QR code by the register so they can reserve tomorrow’s batch before they leave.
Treating custom-cake buyers as one-time customers. Someone who orders a birthday cake already trusts you. Collect their contact info with the order, and invite them back with seasonal emails and pre-order reminders.
Trying every channel at once. Running every platform at the same time spreads you thin. Start with your Google Business Profile and online ordering, then add more once those run smoothly.
The only numbers your bakery needs to watch
Check these monthly to see which bakery marketing ideas lead to orders.
Metric | What it tells you | How to check it |
|---|---|---|
Repeat customer rate | The share of customers who order more than once in a set period, like 90 days | Compare returning customers to total customers in your online ordering or loyalty reports |
Holiday pre-orders vs. last year | Whether your calendar marketing is building demand for big occasions | Compare each holiday’s pre-order total with the same holiday last year |
Sell-out time and leftover product | Whether you’re making too much or too little of each item | Log when each item sells out and what’s left at close |
Email list growth | How many new customers share their name and email each month | Check new subscribers in your email tool |
GBP actions | How many people call, ask for directions, or click to your website from your Google listing | Open the Performance section of your Google Business Profile |
Orders by channel | Where orders come from: walk-in, pickup, delivery, or delivery apps | Compare reports from your point-of-sale (POS) system, the tool you use to ring up sales, and each ordering channel |
Ready to turn occasion buyers into regulars? Start here
Remember the customer who ordered a cake last spring and never came back? The steps in this guide give people like them a reason to return. Just starting out with bakery marketing, or refreshing your approach? The right technology can help you put your plans into action and keep your systems working together.
Follow your bake calendar, collect a name with every order, and give customers a reason to come back.
Use our free interactive worksheet to find the marketing platform that best fits your bakery’s needs.
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